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Mt. Leuser National Park reopens to visitors
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Visitors take pictures from a bridge in Bukit Lawang, which is part of the Gunung Leuser National Park in North Sumatra in this undated photo. Authorities have reopened the national park to visitors, citing the relatively controlled pandemic situation in the surrounding area. (The Jakarta Post/Nurni Sulaiman)
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ocal authorities have decided to reopen the Gunung Leuser National Park (TNGL) for visitors under strict health protocols, marking the first time the national park has fully reopened for visitors since temporarily reopening between August and September 2020.
Palber Turnip, who heads the park’s Bahorok V district, said the decision to reopen the national park was based on the relatively controlled situation of the pandemic in the region.
The national park is situated on an 830,000-hectare site that overlaps two provinces, namely North Sumatra and Aceh. It is home to at least 89 endangered species including orangutans, Sumatran tigers, Sumatran elephants and the Sumatran rhino.
The national park, like all tourist areas, was initially closed at the beginning of the pandemic. As pandemic indicators showed encouraging developments in the areas surrounding the park in the subsequent months, the authorities decided to partially reopen the park between August and September of 2020 at a limited capacity.
Palber went on to say, however, that visitors would now be required to comply with health protocols, including maintaining their distance from the animals to avoid potential human-to-animal viral transmission, or vice versa.
“[Visitors] should not get too close to the animals in the TNGL area. They are required to maintain at least 10 meters’ distance to observe [the animals],” Palber said on Wednesday.
Such a move marks a change from the pre-pandemic situation, when close interaction between the visitors to the national park and the animals was not explicitly prohibited.
